diff --git a/Lib/pprint.py b/Lib/pprint.py
index 5d178a2..82eeac6 100644
--- a/Lib/pprint.py
+++ b/Lib/pprint.py
@@ -115,15 +115,11 @@
         return sio.getvalue()
 
     def isrecursive(self, object):
-        self.__recursive = 0
-        self.__repr(object, {}, 0)
-        return self.__recursive
+        return self.format(object, {}, 0)[2]
 
     def isreadable(self, object):
-        self.__recursive = 0
-        self.__readable = 1
-        self.__repr(object, {}, 0)
-        return self.__readable and not self.__recursive
+        s, readable, recursive = self.format(object, {}, 0)
+        return readable and not recursive
 
     def __format(self, object, stream, indent, allowance, context, level):
         level = level + 1
@@ -196,14 +192,22 @@
         write(rep)
 
     def __repr(self, object, context, level):
-        repr, readable, recursive = _safe_repr(object, context,
-                                               self.__depth, level)
+        repr, readable, recursive = self.format(object, context.copy(),
+                                                self.__depth, level)
         if not readable:
             self.__readable = 0
         if recursive:
             self.__recursive = 1
         return repr
 
+    def format(self, object, context, maxlevels, level):
+        """Format object for a specific context, returning a string
+        and flags indicating whether the representation is 'readable'
+        and whether the object represents a recursive construct.
+        """
+        return _safe_repr(object, context, maxlevels, level)
+
+
 # Return triple (repr_string, isreadable, isrecursive).
 
 def _safe_repr(object, context, maxlevels, level):
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pprint.py b/Lib/test/test_pprint.py
index 14626fb..d5e10aa 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pprint.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pprint.py
@@ -96,6 +96,27 @@
  'write_io_runtime_us': 43690}"""
         self.assertEqual(pprint.pformat(o), exp)
 
+    def test_subclassing(self):
+        o = {'names with spaces': 'should be presented using repr()',
+             'others.should.not.be': 'like.this'}
+        exp = """\
+{'names with spaces': 'should be presented using repr()',
+ others.should.not.be: like.this}"""
+        self.assertEqual(DottedPrettyPrinter().pformat(o), exp)
+
+
+class DottedPrettyPrinter(pprint.PrettyPrinter):
+    def format(self, object, context, maxlevels, level):
+        if isinstance(object, str):
+            if ' ' in object:
+                return `object`, 1, 0
+            else:
+                return object, 0, 0
+        else:
+            return pprint.PrettyPrinter.format(
+                self, object, context, maxlevels, level)
+
+
 def test_main():
     test_support.run_unittest(QueryTestCase)